Documentary on Ireland’s Great Hunger to be premiered Nov. 10 at Quinnipiac University

Documentary on Ireland’s Great Hunger to be premiered Nov. 10 at Quinnipiac University

Posted by JOHN MORGAN, Community Contributor

Rebecca Abbott of Hamden, a professor in the department of film, television and media arts at Quinnipiac University, is the co-producer of the documentary, "Ireland's Great Hunger and the Irish Diaspora."

Rebecca Abbott of Hamden, a professor in the department of film, television and media arts at Quinnipiac University, is the co-producer of the documentary, "Ireland's Great Hunger and the Irish Diaspora." (Posted by JOHN MORGAN, Community Contributor)

Community Contributor JOHN MORGAN

The documentary, "Ireland's Great Hunger and the Irish Diaspora," will be premiered from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10, in the Mount Carmel Auditorium in the Center for Communications and Engineering at Quinnipiac University, 275 Mount Carmel Ave. The viewing, sponsored by Ireland's Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac, is free and open to the public.

"I feel the documentary will help viewers develop a deeper understanding of a major, tragic event in world history," said Rebecca Abbott, who co-produced the documentary. "I hope by getting a better understanding of the historical, cultural and political events leading up to and surrounding the Great Hunger, audiences will begin to see how this understanding can give insight into events taking place today."

Abbott, who filmed and edited the documentary, and co-producer Liam O'Brien, are both professors in the department of film, television and media arts at Quinnipiac.

The 50-minute documentary, narrated by actor Gabriel Byrne, explores not just the potato crop failure that led to mass starvation, death and emigration from 1845 to 1852, but the historical, social and political circumstances that made what is misleadingly called the great "famine" almost inevitable.

"Understanding how the Great Hunger happened can help us see - and perhaps prevent - similar situations that are developing and taking place in the world today," Abbott said.

The documentary views the history of the Great Hunger partly through the eyes of descendants of survivors, those who fled Ireland through a Canadian quarantine station, and those whose maternal ancestors emigrated to Australia under the Earl Grey scheme from 1849 to 1852.

"The mission of the Great Hunger Institute is to promote a scholarly understanding of the Great Hunger," Christine Kinealy, founding director of Ireland's Great Hunger Institute, said. "The production of this documentary reinforces the fact that Quinnipiac University is a world leader in the study of the Great Hunger."

In addition to Kinealy, the documentary features several leading scholars of Irish history, including: Declan Kiberd, University College Dublin and Notre Dame University; Ciaran O'Murchadha, author of "The Great Famine: Ireland's Agony 1845-1852"; Mike Murphy, University College Cork; and Richard Reid, historian, National Museum of Australia.

Quinnipiac is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two hours from Boston. The university enrolls 6,784 full-time undergraduate and 2,884 graduate and part-time students in 58 undergraduate and more than 20 graduate programs of study in its School of Business and Engineering, School of Communications, School of Education, School of Health Sciences, School of Law, Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, School of Nursing and College of Arts and Sciences. Quinnipiac consistently ranks among the top regional universities in the North in U.S. News & World Report's America's "Best Colleges" issue. Quinnipiac also is recognized in Princeton Review's "The Best 380 Colleges." The Chronicle of Higher Education has named Quinnipiac among the "Great Colleges to Work For." For more information, please visit www.quinnipiac.edu. Connect with Quinnipiac on Facebook at www.facebook.com/quinnipiacuniversity and follow Quinnipiac on Twitter @QuinnipiacU.

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